


Comes Marching Home

by old_and_new_friends



Series: Growing Pains [1]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Dementia, Disabled Character, Fire Nation Royal Family, Gen, Lu Ten (Avatar) Lives, Mental Health Issues, Minor Jiang/June, Physical Therapy, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Recreational Drug Use
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-23
Updated: 2021-01-23
Packaged: 2021-03-15 10:14:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,509
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28936833
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/old_and_new_friends/pseuds/old_and_new_friends
Summary: After an accident that ends with Lu Ten injured and his friend dead, Lu Ten is discharged from the military.Returning to civilian life is a struggle, one made all the harder with the current upheaval his family is undergoing. Lu Ten initially struggles on fitting back into the puzzle, but his family's never been one to give up on anything.Lu Ten would just have to figure it out.Modern AU.
Relationships: Azula & Lu Ten, Azulon & Lu Ten, Iroh & Lu Ten, Lu Ten & June, Lu Ten & Zuko
Series: Growing Pains [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2122338
Kudos: 41





	Comes Marching Home

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings:   
> Lu Ten has PTSD, with it comes flashbacks, anxiety, and panic attacks.  
> Lu Ten smokes Pot.  
> Ozai is abusive in this, and while Ozai himself is not present in the story, his actions are mentioned.  
> Azulon has dementia.
> 
> Feel free to ask me to add any others. This story (and series) has a lot of darker topics to it and I may miss some.

Lu Ten's hands were sweaty on the rims of his wheelchair. The passengers on the plane were starting to depart but Lu Ten held back, both to keep from getting jostled around by the others and because he needed a moment to himself before he joined the civilian world again.

"Shame you won't be coming back with us," Huan said. "I'll miss you bud."

Lu Ten smiled up at his friend. Holding his hand out, he let the other man latch onto it in an odd approximation of a handshake.

"I'll miss you, too," Lu Ten said, "but I sure won't miss the battles."

"So, you say," Huan joked. His eyes darkened a moment. "You take care of yourself Lu. The civilian world can be worse than any battle we ever fought." 

Lu Ten nodded, recognizing the words of their staff sergeant echoed in Huan's. "Don't worry about me," Lu Ten said. "I've got my family. We've made it through worse, we can make it through this."

Huan hummed to himself before cuffing Lu Ten on the back of the head. 

Jee did the same when he walked past, as did Meng. The woman shot him a kissy face and Lu Ten rolled his eyes.

Meng was just as gay as he was. He didn't know why she continually flirted with him.

Lu Ten took a deep breath before following them.

His dad wasn't hard to spot. He was front and center of the waiting families with a bag of take out from Lu Ten's favorite restaurant and a fire slug plushie tucked under his arm.

Lu Ten's throat closed up and he wished he could get up and run to his father. The doctor told Lu Ten the wheelchair was only until he got physical therapy but that he may still find a need for it from time to time in the future.

It was a frustrating change, but not nearly as much as when he found out he was being honorably discharged for medical reasons. Lu Ten's leg would never be fully functional, not after what happened to it.

He would get a medal for it but Lu Ten didn't see that as much of an upside. His left leg was still injured and his friend was still gone.

Lu Ten could feel the memory creeping up on him and shook his head as his dad crouched down to hug him. Lu Ten hugged back fiercely, not even caring as the surrounding group gave a round of applause for the returning soldiers.

Lu Ten was home. He may need to re-figure out what that meant, but he was finally home.

\---

"So, you said things around the house changed but it was hard to explain through letters," Lu Ten said, glancing over at his father from the passenger seat. His dad had dropped the roof of the convertible and Lu Ten was glad he had kept a hair tie in his pants pocket.

"Yes," his dad said, not seeming to want to discuss it. "Zuko and Azula have moved in with us. As has my father."

"You mentioned that," Lu Ten said, shaking his smoothie to clear the chunks, "it's the why that I'm curious about."

His dad sighed. "My brother has been arrested," He said.

Lu Ten lowered his drink slowly and turned to his father in question. "Why? I mean I know he's an ass but what'd he do?" Lu Ten asked. He had always known his Uncle to be a rude man but he never imagined the man doing anything that should get him arrested.

"He's currently being brought up on child abuse and neglect charges as well as spousal abuse," his dad said. "He's also the main suspect in Ursa's disappearance."

Lu Ten's jaw dropped. "Okay, back up," Lu Ten said, turning more fully towards his dad. "What?"

His dad frowned. "There were apparently things going on in their home that no one knew of. Ozai has been abusing Ursa for a while but he had yet to lay a hand on his children. That changed when he found out Ursa was supposedly cheating on him with some man named Ikem. Ursa disappeared shortly after and if Ikem knows where she is, he's not saying," his dad explained.

"So, Aunt Ursa is just, she's just gone?" Lu Ten asked. He squeezed tightly onto Flameo, his stuffed fire slug. He had wondered what possessed his dad to bring it with him, but now he knew. It was for comfort.

"Yes," his dad said. "There's no sign of her anywhere, dead or alive. Anyway, with Ursa missing the house soon became much worse, as Ozai had lost his main target. He turned on Zuko instead."

Lu Ten clenched his right fist on the seat of the car.

"Ozai burned him," his dad continued. "Very badly. The doctors are confidant skin grafts may help but even than the scar is likely to be there forever, just less noticeable. Neighbors saw the flames in the windows and called the cops. It may have been a firebending household but not many are stupid enough to bend inside like that. Ozai was arrested. They had to use their waterbenders to ice him down. Zuko and Azula have been put into my care as their closest living relative. I've petitioned the courts to adopt them but with Ursa's whereabouts unknown they've denied it."

Lu Ten stared out the windshield in shock. "I don't," Lu Ten said, weakly. "How, how did we miss it?"

He saw his dad frown out of the corner of his eye. "I wish I knew," he said. "Maybe things would be different then."

Lu Ten was silent for the rest of the drive. 

His dad pulled up into the student pick up for the high school. Lu Ten blinked up at the building he last attended school in.

"Oh," Lu Ten said, "I guess they are in high school now, aren't they."

"Yes, Azula just started her first year," his dad said.

"Huh," Lu Ten said. "I swore only yesterday that Zuko was thirteen."

As they waited for the school to let out, Lu Ten turned to his dad again. "What about grandfather?" Lu Ten asked. That was the situation Lu Ten was least looking forward to. His grandfather was a very belligerent person. "Why's he staying at the house?"

"He refuses to go to a nursing home," his dad replied. He rolled his eyes at that.

"Oh," Lu Ten said, smiling to himself. "I see."

The bell rang to release the students and his dad stepped from the car. "Come on," he said, "out here where the two can see you."

Lu Ten protested weakly but allowed his dad to help him from the car. Lu Ten leaned heavily on the hood of the car.

The first one to spot him had oddly enough been Azula's friend Ty Lee. She squealed loudly before running over. Azula was hot on her heels and the two slammed into him together.

Lu Ten's face crumbled in pain slightly but he held the girls just as tightly.

There was a strangled yell and Lu Ten looked up to see Zuko racing across the parking lot himself. Lu Ten didn't recognize any of the kids around him, but then again, Zuko had never really had friends before. It was a nice change to see.

Mai reached him the same time as Zuko, having not bothered to run, but hugged him just as fiercely as the other three.

"Okay," Lu Ten said, laughing slightly. "You have to let go at some point."

Mai pulled back, frowning slightly as a car horn sounded. She sighed heavily before nodding at Lu Ten and taking off towards where her mother was impatiently waiting.

"Do you need a ride, Ty Lee?" Lu Ten's dad asked.

"No, sir," she said. "My sisters are waiting to walk home with me."

She didn't exactly sound excited as she turned towards the other six identical girls.

Lu Ten frowned slightly at that. If he missed something obviously wrong in his cousin's household, was he missing something in her's? In Mai's?

Lu Ten shook himself and smiled weakly down at his cousins. Well, he smiled down at Azula. He was slightly startled to find Zuko on eye level with him.

"You're going to outgrow me, aren't you?" Lu Ten pouted, rather than commenting on the very obvious scar that covered Zuko's left eye.

"Hope so," Zuko said, "no offense but your side of the family is short."

Lu Ten laughed as the two slid in the back seat.

"It's so much more peaceful when they can't fight over the front seat," his dad said. Lu Ten laughed again. It was the most he had laughed in a while and it felt really good.

\---

Dinner that night had been a loud affair. Zuko and Azula had continually tried to talk over each other as they explained where they were in their lives.

Lu Ten had been amused at their antics but continually glanced across the table where he could see his grandfather getting progressively more annoyed by them. Lu Ten supposed the only thing keeping the man silent was his son, who sat at the table interjecting with his own versions of stories.

It became clear to Lu Ten that his dad was much closer to Zuko than Azula, as he seemed mostly confused by the things she spoke about.

Lu Ten was also confused, but that was because the information was overwhelming all at once. Lu Ten could feel his anxiety increasing after too long of the excited rambling. His right leg was bouncing under the table and shaking it. His grandfather seemed discontent at that too.

Sometimes Lu Ten wondered if the older man was where he got his high levels of anxiety and if that wasn't what caused him to always be so cranky. Lu Ten smirked slightly at the idea of offering a blunt to his prim and proper grandfather, as a solution. He covered his mouth to keep from laughing.

Lu Ten hadn't smoked much since he last shipped out, it not being allowed during active duty but that wouldn't stop him from picking back up the habit. There were more destructive things he could be doing.

"I'm starting theater," Zuko said, jolting Lu Ten back into the conversation. "My friend Suki suggested it. She does stage design while her boyfriend Sokka does a lot of the tech stuff. She thinks I'd do good with acting."

"Well, you're certainly dramatic, Zuzu," Azula said. "I, on the other hand, have started gymnastics. Ty Lee joined but refused to do so alone. Mai refused so I joined her."

"That's nice," Lu Ten said, "I really regret never getting into any clubs or activities after school. I just hung out behind the building and smoked weed with June."

"You're ex-girlfriend?" Zuko said. 

Lu Ten made a face. "Don't remind me of the time when I thought I was straight. That's a tragic memory," Lu Ten joked. He wondered if June still lived in the area, she had when he left a year ago. They only talked through text these days and Lu Ten missed her. It would be nice to have someone to catch up with. "Anyway, are you having fun with it?"

"Yes!" Zuko said, launching into a story about his friend Sokka.

Lu Ten still noticed Azula's shrug and the soft frown on her face. He filed the information away for later, knowing she wouldn't talk about it here.

Azula had always been a secretive child. Only Lu Ten, and Ty Lee in her own way, had been able to pull secrets from her. Lu Ten had always wondered why but now he supposed he knew. He wondered what secrets Azula had been forced to hide for her father.

Zuko wouldn't have known or the whole of Republic City would have known, but Azula might have. She had a much keener survival instinct. Which Lu Ten only now realized was the first sign something was wrong. No child should be that on guard all the time.

Zuko was still talking about theater, and while Lu Ten didn't want to interrupt him, his head was pounding and he really wanted to go to bed at this point.

He closed his eyes and covered them from the bright lights above the table.

"Lu Ten," his dad said, "why don't you go to bed. We can all talk more in the morning."

Zuko stopped talking abruptly and looked down at the ground. Lu Ten sighed, before drawing both Azula and Zuko into a side hug.

"Love you guys," Lu Ten said, "but I just got home. I'm not going anywhere any time soon. We've got years to catch up with, kiddos."

"Okay," Zuko said, weakly. Lu Ten ruffled his hair, what was left of it anyway, as he backed his wheelchair away from the table.

"Hey, buddy," Lu Ten said, pausing in the doorway. "The half-shaved look suits you. What possessed that?"

Zuko frowned. "They had to shave it for the first skin graft. But I didn't want to shave it all," he said.

Lu Ten licked his lips lightly. "Looks nice," Lu Ten said, awkwardly.

He glanced at his dad before smiling brightly at the table. "Night guys," he said, abruptly.

A course of "good nights" followed. Lu Ten frowned as his grandfather remained silent. 

"Good night, grandfather," Lu Ten said, making eye contact with him.

He mumbled something back. Lu Ten took the reply even though he didn't hear it.

He did hear what his grandfather said next though. "Who is that man?" He asked. "He looks like Iroh but he's too thin."

Lu Ten stalled in the hallway and frowned. Dad said his grandfather was staying with them because he didn't want to go to a nursing home but Lu Ten only now realized, he never clarified why his grandfather needed to go to a nursing home in the first place.

"I'm Iroh, dad," Lu Ten's dad said. "That's my son Lu Ten."

Lu Ten listened closely to his grandfather's reply. There was a confused grunt followed by, "no, that's got to be Iroh."

"Never mind," Lu Ten's dad said, with a heavy sigh.

Lu Ten closed his eyes as he moved down the hall to his room. 

Their home had always been too big. It had been bought back when Lu Ten was a baby and his parents had planned on a bunch of kids.

Lu Ten had been excited about his baby sister but she had been stillborn. The unknown sibling that followed had been lost early. The brother after that had taken Lu Ten's mother with him.

It turned out, Lu Ten was a fluke. His parents had lucked out on the first try, but his mother shouldn't have, medically speaking, even been able to deliver him. They found out that information just a bit too late.

The house that was made for a family of five became entirely too big for just Lu Ten and his dad but his dad refused to move them. 

Instead, his dad had opened the doors to other children by signing up as a foster parent.

Lu Ten had a few foster siblings over the years, but none of them had ever stayed long term. For some it was only temporary as their parents came back permanently, for others it was a back and forth, as their parents came back only long enough to unsettle them before disappearing again.

The longest lasting of these siblings was a kid named Jet, his parents were gone and Lu Ten's dad had tried to adopt him, but the courts ruled in Jet's grandparents favor and after a year and a half, even he left.

Supposedly the kid had moved to Ba Sing Se.

His dad stopped fostering after that, more because of Lu Ten leaving for the military than a desire to no longer do so.

Lu Ten reached his bedroom door and smiled to himself at the picture collage that was stuck to it. They were all pictures of him and Azula, which told Lu Ten exactly who had made such a gesture.

Azula was a selfie master at this point and much of the images were from the last time he had been home when he had babysat his cousins for the night and a twelve-year-old Azula had demanded a very high Lu Ten take pictures with her.

Lu Ten looked like a flushed fool as he sat next to Azula laughing at nothing. Azula looked pristine in all of the photos, creating a very surreal image overall.

Another image caught his eyes at the top. 

Lu Ten stood slowly, putting all his weight on his uninjured leg, as he reached up for it. He pulled it free and smiled lightly when he saw what it was.

A twelve-year-old Lu Ten sat beaming up at the camera with a baby bundled in his lap. A two-year-old Zuko was seated on the arm of the chair Lu Ten sat in and leaned on Lu Ten's shoulder, half asleep with a sippy cup dangling out of his mouth.

Lu Ten carried the photo into his room and placed it on his bedside table.

The last thought he had as he slipped off to sleep, was that he'd need to get a frame for it.

\---

Lu Ten's breath came in short and full of dirt. There was a sharp pain in his left leg and he couldn't move pinned under the rubble as he was.

Bombs continued to go off overhead causing dust to rain down onto Lu Ten's back. Lu Ten closed his eyes as they started stinging from the dust.

"Lu," Kasem called. His voice came out hoarse and weak.

"Kas," Lu Ten called back. "Are you okay?"

"No," Kasem said, coughing harshly. "Lu, you need to get out of here."

"My leg's pinned," Lu Ten said.

Kasem took a ragged breath and his hand suddenly reached into view. Lu Ten watched as his hand pushed up weakly.

The rock crushing Lu Ten's leg lifted, only enough for Lu Ten's leg to slip out.

He clenched his teeth as he moved it and sucked in a heavy breath at the sharp pain that shot up his leg.

"Go," Kasem said.

Lu Ten wiped his forehead and ducked as more dust collapsed down on them as what sounded like a tank rolled overhead.

"What about you?" Lu Ten said, finally able to look over at his friend. It wasn't good.

Kasem's full body was buried under the rock slide. Kasem shook his head and pulled a necklace from around his neck. "Give that to my mom, okay?" Kasem said. "It's my dad's wedding ring, she'll want it back."

"Give it to her yourself," Lu Ten said, knocking the hand aside. "Come on, lift the rocks off I'll carry you."

Kasem shook his head. "I won't make it and this pocket is one good hit away from collapsing down on you too. Just go," Kasem said.

"I won't find a way out without you," Lu Ten insisted.

Kasem closed his eyes and took a ragged breath. "You win," Kasem said. "Rather die up there anyway."

"You won't be dying anywhere," Lu Ten corrected.

"Everyone dies, Lu," Kasem said. He pushed up with his free hand and Lu Ten slid him out from the rubble.

Lu Ten closed his eyes as he looked down at the bloody mess of Kasem's chest.

"Shit, you weren't kidding," Lu Ten said, lifting the other man up. Kasem grunted in pain then whined loudly as Lu Ten grabbed him bridal style.

"There's a hole in the top to the left," Kasem said. "It doesn't lead out but it leads up into another pocket. That then leads out. Move quickly."

Lu Ten nodded, lifting Kasem up above his head as the man weakly pulled himself through the hole.

He followed after and moved quickly through the second pocket. He went to lift Kasem when the earthbender froze.

"Move," Kasem said, pushing Lu Ten with all his strength out of the rubble. Lu Ten fell back against the hole out and as the bomb dropped the pocket collapsed around him leaving Lu Ten halfway buried in the rubble once more.

Lu Ten felt a cold metal wrapped around his hand. Looking down he saw a necklace with a wedding ring wrapped around.

Kasem's mother would want that back.

Another bomb went off, this time closer by. Lu Ten's ears started ringing and his lungs filled with dust. Something hit his helmet hard enough to cause his eyes to vibrate.

Lu Ten's mind went blank as his vision went black.

\---

Lu Ten jerked up coughing and sputtering in bed. He became aware of a presence in the doorway and threw the nearest object towards it.

There was a squealing noise followed by a shout Lu Ten couldn't make out.

Suddenly his vision was flooded with light. Lu Ten blinked and coughed again as his breathing settled.

He looked around him again and saw Azula and Zuko outside his room. The two were wide eyed and a pillow sat at their feet.

That must have been what Lu Ten threw. He sighed slightly in relief at that, as it could have been much worse.

His bed dipped slightly and Lu Ten looked up at his dad's mournful face.

"Azula, Zuko, go back to bed," he called over his shoulder.

The two quickly dispersed from Lu Ten's doorway.

"I know you do not wish to talk about it, I was much the same when I came back," his dad said, settling on the bed. "We can simply sit together if you wish."

Lu Ten took a deep breath. It hurt his lung to do so. "I should have listened to you when you said not to enlist," Lu Ten said. "But I thought it would be worth it."

"Was it not?" His dad asked.

"I don't know," Lu Ten said. "It doesn't feel like it was."

"I know," his dad said, petting Lu Ten's hair as he leaned on his shoulder. "You're home now, though. You can start healing."

"The nightmares followed me," Lu Ten said.

"I know," his dad repeated. "We will work on that too."

Lu Ten didn't want to talk about it anymore.

"Why didn't you tell me about grandfather," Lu Ten asked.

His dad sighed heavily. "You have enough on your plate Lu Ten, do not go stealing problems off of mine," he said. "They've determined its dementia. There's not much to be done about it."

Lu Ten nodded, absentmindedly. There wasn't much to be done about a lot of things.

\---

"Let me know when it starts hurting," the therapist said.

Lu Ten started at her in question as she turned the machine on. It buzzed loudly but there wasn't any pain coming with it. Lu Ten felt the muscles in his leg start twitching but there was still no pain. He started feeling a light burning in his leg that slowly became less and less tolerable.

Lu Ten hissed slightly and the sensation lessened a bit.

"Is that okay?" The therapist asked.

"Yeah," Lu Ten said.

"Good, I'll be back in thirty minutes and we will see about getting motion back in your leg," they said.

Lu Ten nodded. He wished he had known what to expect, as he would have brought a book or something. As it was, Lu Ten put his headphones in and closed his eyes.

He was tired, as he found little sleep the night before after his nightmare. Even with his dad snoring away next to him, Lu Ten hadn't felt safe enough to close his eyes.

His cousins had avoided him the next morning, slipping from the house with excuses of catching a ride with someone else.

Lu Ten's dad frowned at them as they left but said nothing. He had planned on dropping them at school before dropping Lu Ten at his first physical therapy appointment.

Instead, he just dropped Lu Ten off before heading in to check on his tea shop.

Lu Ten was to call him when done here and his dad would either take him home or bring him back to the tea shop with him. It depended on how exhausted this session made him.

The therapist came back and Lu Ten felt the buzzing feeling slowly fade as he opened his eyes.

"Now what?" Lu Ten asked.

"Now, I'm going to move your leg around and if you're able, after we will see about a bit of time on the bikes," they said.

Lu Ten nodded, and watched transfixed as they forced his knee to bend and unbend. It didn’t hurt but it felt odd. Lu Ten’s leg felt a bit like jelly after the electric current ran through it. They turned the leg from side to side before dropping it back down to the bed.

“Try lifting it,” they said. Lu Ten did. His leg tensed up but didn’t manage to lift off the bed. The therapist nodded. “No bike today, but here are some exercises to take home with you. You should be able to do them by yourself at home.”

Lu Ten looked down at the sheet and nodded. The exercises seemed simple enough.

The therapist helped him slip from the bed into his wheelchair. Lu Ten maneuvered himself out into the waiting room to call his dad.

A hand waved in front of his face and Lu Ten flinched back slightly. He looked up and smiled brightly at the woman standing next to him.

“Hey, loser,” June said.

“Hey, what are you doing here?” Lu Ten asked.

“Oh, you know I stopped by the tea shop and your dad let slip you were home,” June said. “Figured I’d pick you up.”

Lu Ten squinted up at her. “You’re about to kidnap me, aren’t you?” he asked.

“Duh, let’s go,” June said.

Lu Ten followed behind her. “Oh, no,” Lu Ten protested, looking over Nala. “How exactly am I supposed to ride a shirshu like this?”

June looked between the two and shrugged. “We’ll figure it out,” she said.

\---

June surprised Lu Ten by taking him back to his house, rather than her own. They locked themselves up in Lu Ten’s room, as Lu Ten’s grandfather had gone from thinking Lu Ten was his father to thinking Lu Ten wasn’t supposed to be in the house at all.

June slid his window open, before handing him a pre-rolled joint.

“June, you’re the best thing ever,” Lu Ten said, as he lit it. June hummed and held out her own for him to light as well.

“Only the one,” June said. “You’ll throw up like the first time if you over do it.”

“I know, don’t remind me,” Lu Ten said, rolling over onto his side.

“I’d ask how life is treating you but I don’t think I want the answer,” June said.

“You don’t,” Lu Ten replied. “Tell me about what you’ve been doing? I haven’t seen you in years.”

It was the sad truth. While the two never lost touch, Lu Ten and June never actually managed to make plans the few times Lu Ten returned to the city for leave.

“Well, I’ve been bouncing through trade schools,” June said. “Thought I wanted to be a beautician but that didn’t pan out, then I thought, oh hey, I could be a massage therapist. No, June, that was dumb, let’s become a nurse. I quit that very quickly. Anyway, now I’m a welder at the auto shop down from your dad’s tea shop.”

Lu Ten stared up at the ceiling. He hadn’t quite heard everything June just said, but he got the general picture.

“So, did you finish those other degrees?” Lu Ten asked.

“All but the nursing,” she said.

Lu Ten rolled his head till it rested on June’s stomach. “Can I have a massage?” Lu Ten asked.

“Are you my girlfriend or a paying customer?” June asked.

Lu Ten pouted, even as June started absently petting through his hair. Lu Ten had no clue why it was such a calming gesture but June had discovered it when they were dating and had used it to her advantage ever since.

Lu Ten started giggling to himself at the thought.

“Do you remember when we thought we were straight and we dated each other?” Lu Ten asked.

June tugged his hair lightly making him laugh more. “We decided not to talk about it ever again,” June replied.

“No, we said, we’d never talk about the fact that when I broke up with you, you blurted out that you were glad because you thought you were a lesbian,” Lu Ten said.

June pulled on his hair harder. “Ow,” Lu Ten muttered, “okay, we never thought we were straight. What a stupid idea.”

June hummed. “There we go,” she said. “You know I’m actually bi, right?”

“No? When did that happen?” Lu Ten asked.

“When I dated a guy who wasn’t gay,” June replied.

“Hurtful, I was a good boyfriend,” Lu Ten said, with a pout.

“You were gay,” June said, laughing slightly, “but actually, yeah, you were the best of the two.”

June paused. “You need to meet my girlfriend,” she blurted out. “I think you two would get on well.”

“You didn’t mention a girlfriend,” Lu Ten said.

“I mentioned a girlfriend,” June said.

“I thought she was metaphorical,” Lu Ten said.

“No, she works at the vet center,” June said. “You might know her, she went to school with us, like two years younger. Jiang?”

“No idea,” Lu Ten said, thinking back over their classmates. All he saw were blurry faces. June had been his only friend growing up. He didn’t really know other classmates like June did.

“She had long hair that she dyed purple that one time,” June said. “She cut it all off after high school when she enlisted.”

“Oh yeah,” Lu Ten said, suddenly recalling the streak of purple that he occasionally saw in the hallways. “Everyone made fun of her because she had stained her hands purple.”

“Yeah, assholes,” June said, huffing slightly. “Anyway, unlike you she left as soon as her first service was up. She hated it and now she’s dedicated her life to helping veterans. She’s getting a degree to become a counselor, but right now she’s the receptionist and runs the AA meetings at the vet center.”

“Nice,” Lu Ten said, vaguely. “I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

“Don’t worry about it,” June said.

“Won’t,” Lu Ten said, cuddling into June’s side even more. He felt calm for the first time in a while, even as everything in the room seemed to come into greater focus. He slipped off to sleep as June continued talking and petting through his hair.

He was glad his dad had sent her his way. Lu Ten had missed June.

\---

June had left the pre-rolled joints on Lu Ten’s bedside table and Lu Ten had made short work of them, before buying more of his own. They weren’t his preferred method, but Lu Ten was currently too lazy to do it the longer way.

He wasn’t too sure of what to do with himself. Zuko, Azula and his dad were never home and his grandfather was back to calling him Iroh.

Lu Ten felt slightly detached from everything going on around him. The only part of his day where he felt accomplished was his physical therapy sessions. Lu Ten, after a week of sessions, was now able to walk with his cane short distances.

It meant he didn’t need the wheelchair to get around the house anymore but Lu Ten knew he had a bit to go before he never needed it, if such a time ever came. Lu Ten wasn’t too concerned about it, mostly happy he was alive after what happened.

He kept having nightmares, but none as bad as that first night where he had woken the entire house with his yelling. Only once in the past two weeks did he wake someone and that was Zuko, when he had tried to sneak to the kitchen for a glass of water.

Currently, Lu Ten was staring blankly at a geographics channel with a plate of pan-fried dumplings on his chest. His dad didn’t let him eat in the living room but currently his dad wasn’t here to yell at him and his grandfather had given up when Lu Ten didn’t answer to his call of Iroh.

Lu Ten still had no clue what to do with that. He’d never been around someone with dementia before and being called by the wrong name was discomforting.

Zuko’s scar was another issue, as Lu Ten kept stumbling over questions and accidentally zoning out while staring at Zuko’s face. He zoned out at other things as well, but those things weren’t heavily scarred and self-conscious about it.

The door opened and Lu Ten cursed as he shoved the last dumpling in his mouth. He slipped to the kitchen and tried to drop the plate in the sink before his dad saw him. Hopefully he would just think Lu Ten had been eating in the dining room like a normal person.

His dad walked in and glanced at him for a moment.

“Hey,” Lu Ten said, leaning back against the counter as if he hadn’t been in the living room eating.

“Lu Ten, you need to get out of the house,” his dad said, frowning lightly at him. “It’s not healthy to be cooped up all day and physical therapy doesn’t count.”

“Hey, I see June every day,” Lu Ten said. It was true, for some reason she had taken over getting Lu Ten from place to place. Though Lu Ten wished she’d invest in a car.

“Lu Ten, I won’t pressure you but I really do think you need something to get your mind off things,” his dad said. “Why don’t you help around the tea shop?”

Lu Ten tilted his head. “Yeah, I could do that,” Lu Ten said. He had worked in the tea shop since he was thirteen years old. It wasn’t exactly anything fresh or exciting but it would get him out of the house.

“Good, have June drop you off at the tea shop tomorrow after therapy if you are up to it,” his dad said.

Lu Ten nodded. He should be fine as therapy didn’t tire him out much anymore.

\---

Lu Ten wasn’t stupid. He knew weed wasn’t a solution to his problem, and no he didn’t want to label it properly, but it helped. It helped until it didn’t.

Lu Ten still had nightmares. He still had the occasional moments where he zoned out until he was across the ocean in the Fire Nation or high in the mountains of the Earth Kingdom. He still jumped at loud noises and went around any structure he couldn’t determine the stability of.

At this point he mostly did it for his leg, which, while healed, still hurt often. His knee popped painfully every morning and he couldn’t walk for more than twenty minutes without his leg giving out on him.

He knew it wasn’t helping his other issue, but Lu Ten had wanted it to.

He hadn’t expected it. 

He was in a kitchen, avalanches, even those caused by earthbenders, weren’t exactly common in them. He didn’t know what had caused it, but the pans hanging over head had fallen. He hadn’t been hit. In fact, he had been clear across the room and the pans had tumbled down on the bus boy's head.

Lu Ten had thrown himself at the kid and snatched him up from the ground. Lu Ten’s actions had probably startled the kid more than the pans landing on him, as Lu Ten picked him up only to toss him back down on the other side of the island.

With the kid now out of the way, Lu Ten had started frantically digging through the pans on the floor until his dad grabbed his arm. Lu Ten was breathing heavily and didn’t even notice he was bleeding until his dad ran his hand under the water to clean the cut.

Lu Ten took one look at the blood flowing down the drain and hit the floor as his vision blacked out.

\---

Lu Ten stood outside the vet center. His dad had brought him this time and stood at his side as Lu Ten looked up at the building. He had his consultation two weeks ago and had been given his diagnosis the week before.

This time he was here for group therapy and if that showed no improvement in his symptoms, Lu Ten would start individual sessions.

“There’s nothing shameful in being here,” his dad said.

“I know, doesn’t mean I want to be here though,” Lu Ten said. He leaned heavily on his cane as he entered the building.

His dad hung back in the waiting room as Lu Ten approached the front desk.

“Lu Ten, right?” the woman asked. Lu Ten looked her over. Everything from her heavy looking earrings, to her shaved head and slit eyebrow, told him this was June’s girlfriend. If she wasn’t, Lu Ten would eat his shoe.

“Jiang?” Lu Ten asked.

“Guilty,” she said, popping her gum loudly. “Down the hall, first door on your right.”

Lu Ten nodded but before he could leave, he felt a hand on his arm. “It’s not so scary, don’t worry too much,” Jiang said. “Nobody will force you to do anything and if they do, tell me and I’ll kick their ass.”

Lu Ten laughed. “I like you,” he said. “June needs to learn to share.”

Jiang winked at him as Lu Ten finally left.

It hadn’t been as bad as Lu Ten thought. He had been told to keep a journal of his dreams and to note down any triggers he had, like the falling pans. The idea was if Lu Ten could spot things before they happened, then he could prevent attacks.

The group had been kind, but it was very obvious that Lu Ten was the youngest in the group at twenty-seven. Most of the others were in their thirties or forties and a few were his dad’s age. The leader of the group was an older man who reminded Lu Ten a bit of his dad’s friend Piandao.

Overall, he was hesitantly hopeful. 

\---

Lu Ten hadn’t meant to ignore his family, he’d just been focused on his own issues. 

Well, he was ignoring his grandfather, if only because the man was acting odd about Zuko as well as Lu Ten now. His grandfather seemed fully convinced Lu Ten and Zuko were Iroh and Ozai and Lu Ten still didn’t know if correcting him was the proper response.

Regardless, he had ignored his cousins by accident. Azula had pulled away, seemingly uninterested in what Lu Ten was doing, while Zuko still occasionally hovered in the hopes of catching Lu Ten’s attention.

Lu Ten was having one of his better days. His spirits were high, and he was a bit high, so when he saw Zuko shuffling a familiar deck of cards, he decided to engage. They had spent hours making them when they were younger, to the point where they had been too exhausted to play with them until the next day. Lu Ten had cut himself twice trying to make the stupid cardboard cards as Zuko insisted on having Avatar themed cards.

Lu Ten slipped a card from the deck and threw it on the ground.

Zuko startled slightly, apparently having not expected Lu Ten to join him.

“Well,” Lu Ten said, gesturing towards the floor. Zuko dropped his own card down and held his hand out.

Lu Ten did the same as Zuko counted to three. Lu Ten threw out an earth sign while Zuko had thrown out water.

Lu Ten laughed slightly at that. Back when they were younger, Zuko had always thrown out the fire sign. He supposed the kid had learned better while he was gone.

“You first then,” Lu Ten said. Zuko tossed a new card down near Lu Ten’s. It slid to the left but didn’t flip.

“Nice try,” Lu Ten said, “but watch a master at work, bud.”

Lu Ten threw his down sideways, so that the corner hit the edge of Zuko’s card, causing it to flip.

Zuko pouted slightly. “How’d you do that?” Zuko demanded, throwing his own card down towards Lu Ten’s again even though he had already lost.

Lu Ten grabbed his wrist and turned it till the card lined up right and forced Zuko to throw it. The card didn’t flip that time, but it was because it hit the center rather than the edge.

Lu Ten and Zuko kept practicing until Zuko was able to beat Lu Ten just as often as he lost, then Lu Ten dragged him on mission to steal the cake his dad had on the counter.

\---

Lu Ten got home early Thursday afternoon since he didn’t work at the tea shop that say, as it was the day, he had his group sessions and immediately after his individual sessions. While group therapy helped Lu Ten somewhat, the leader had suggested Lu Ten seek more outside therapy to deal with his survivor's guilt, as the man had put it.

Group was going arguably better than the individual sessions.

His dad was already home, making dinner for the family, when Lu Ten slipped back to his bedroom. He frowned slightly at the papers spread across his bed.

He picked one up and frowned even harder at them. The papers were college applications.

Lu Ten tossed them in the trash and nearly stormed from his room to confront his dad about them.

It was only the giggling coming from Azula’s room that made him stop. Mai and Ty Lee were over. Lu Ten wasn’t about to start an argument with guests in the house.

Lu Ten turned back towards his room only to realize Azula’s door was open. He tilted his head slightly at the odd dancing the three girls were doing.

“Um,” Lu Ten said, “do you want me to close this?”

He pointed to the door.

Mai immediately stopped dancing while Ty Lee giggled again.

Azula narrowed her eyes at Lu Ten.

“Lu Ten, come dance with us, it will be funny!” Ty Lee called.

“The video isn’t supposed to be funny, Ty Lee,” Azula said.

“What video?” Lu Ten asked.

“We’re making a dance meme video for YipYip,” Ty Lee said. 

“YipYip?” Lu Ten asked. The name sounded familiar but Lu Ten didn’t tend to keep up with trends while deployed.

“You upload short videos to it with sound bites,” Ty Lee explained. “Azula makes a lot of dance and makeup videos.”

“So, like SpiritVine?” Lu Ten asked.

“What’s that?” Mai asked.

“Never mind,” Lu Ten said, “sound’s fun and I’m bored.”

“No,” Azula said.

Lu Ten crossed his arms. “Why not? Scared I’ll do it better than you?” Lu Ten challenged.

It worked, almost immediately, just as it had when they were younger. Azula couldn’t turn down a challenge.

“Girls, new plan,” Azula said. “New video is me versus Lu Ten.”

Ty Lee clapped slightly as she joined Mai on Azula’s bed.

Lu Ten immediately regretted agreeing to this as Azula walked him through the steps of the video. Lu Ten felt slightly stupid as he repeated them for the camera, but at least Ty Lee was supportive.

Lu Ten joined Mai and Ty Lee on Azula’s bed as they waited for Azula to upload it.

“There,” she said. “My idiot cousin thinks he’s cute to challenge me. Who did it better, me or him?”

“Not an idiot but thanks,” Lu Ten said, grabbing her phone. Azula immediately sat next to him as if he was going to do something with it. The temptation to lick it passed through his head but Lu Ten shook it off and looked down at the video instead.

“You are so going to lose,” Lu Ten said, watching as the video looped over. “I did great.”

“We shall see,” Azula said, “now get out of my room before I spray you with perfume.”

“Jokes on you,” Lu Ten said, “I like perfume!”

“Out!” Azula yelled, pushing him slightly. Lu Ten braced himself with his good leg and pushed back slightly before allowing Azula to push him from the room.

He laughed at her putout expression and shut the door behind him. He had completely forgotten why he’d been in the hallway in the first place until he saw the applications poking out of his trash can.

Lu Ten frowned down at them again before pulling the top one from the trash.

He supposed it wouldn’t hurt to think about it.

\---

“Did you see the papers I left on your bed?” his dad asked, a few nights later as they closed up the tea shop.

“I did,” Lu Ten said, wiping down a table before his dad placed the chair on top. “I don’t really know, it’s a lot.”

“I figured, but you have your whole life ahead of you Lu Ten,” his dad said. “I don’t want you to back yourself into a corner.”

“I just assumed I’d inherit this place,” Lu Ten said.

“You’d need a business degree, or a degree in the culinary arts,” his dad said. “Running a place like this comes with a lot of liability. 

Lu Ten leaned heavily on the table in front of him.

“I know,” Lu Ten said.

“You told me once when you were little that you wanted to be a chef when you grew up,” his dad said. “You said you’d turn my tea shop into a proper restaurant. I know it was a child’s career plan but there’s a culinary school in the next district that has a two, a four and a six-year program. You used to cook all the time, maybe you should try again.”

Lu Ten looked down at his reflection in the table top. His hair had grown longer in the few months he had been home, not that it had been short before. His eyes were missing the haunted quality that had him dodging mirrors when he first got home. He had actually brushed his teeth that morning.

“Okay,” Lu Ten said. “I’ll give it a try.”

His dad dropped a kiss on the side of his head, before he moved to grab the broom.

\---

Lu Ten hit his stride after five months of being home. He knew it wasn’t the end of his struggles, but at least things had leveled out.

He had finally been clear to drive by himself, and Lu Ten immediately pulled his dad’s old motorcycle from the garage. It had been given to Lu Ten years ago and he’d been driving it since. He had been worried he’d never be able to ride it again. He did go ahead and detach the car from it as Zuko and Azula refused to ride in it anymore.

He had a schedule now, with his classes on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, while he worked at the tea ship on Saturdays and Sundays. Thursday he still went to his therapy session, though he no longer did group sessions.

The work load kept him busy and keeping busy kept his brain too occupied to screw with him.

Tuesdays, he had to himself, though it was often spent hanging out with June and Jiang in the afternoons.

His Tuesday mornings, he now spent with his grandfather. Lu Ten wasn’t sure how accurate his research was or if it really helped but his grandfather didn’t argue much when Iroh, as he still insisted on calling Lu Ten, dragged him out for a walk around the area or made him lunch.

Lu Ten stopped correcting him. Lu Ten made his dad stop correcting him.

He supposed being mistaken for his dad wasn’t the worst thing in the world, though Lu Ten had somehow convinced his grandfather that Zuko wasn’t Ozai, but rather Lu Ten. He wasn’t sure if the old man really believed him but it got him to stop talking about his younger son. 

Instead of correcting the man, Lu Ten fished his grandfather’s brain for blackmail on his dad.

His grandfather was more than willing to reminisce on Iroh’s more questionable moments and Lu Ten was more than willing to use it to his advantage.

He no longer found himself drifting away from his family and instead, fully engaged with them when he had the energy. He even started cooking dinner himself on days when he wasn’t drained or too high to be in the kitchen.

“Lu Ten,” his dad said, “going to culinary school was a brilliant idea. This is amazing.”

Lu Ten smiled brightly at that.

“It really is good,” Azula said. “You should pack my lunch in the morning.”

Lu Ten’s dad frowned slightly. “What’s wrong with my lunches?” he asked.

“They aren’t Lu Ten’s,” Azula said.

Lu Ten snorted as Zuko tentatively requested the same.

“Hey, Azula,” Lu Ten asked. “What ever happened with that video you posted?”

“I took it down,” Azula said.

“Oh, why?” Lu Ten asked, smirking. “Did I win?”

“Yes,” Azula admitted frowning, “but that’s not why I took it down. My followers kept asking for your number and if you had a YipYip account yourself and if you were single and one of them called you hot. The video had to go.”

Lu Ten started laughing. “Maybe I should get a YipYip account,” Lu Ten said.

“No,” Azula objected.

“Oh, now I really need one,” Lu Ten said.

“No,” Azula repeated.

“What’s YipYip,” Lu Ten heard his dad whisper to Zuko.

Lu Ten laughed even harder.

\---

Lu Ten finally got a frame for the photo of him and his cousins. It now sat on his bedside table in a place of pride.

He glanced at it as he moved to turn off his bedside light. Lu Ten had stayed up later than normal to make a YipYip account. He wasn’t sure if he’d post a video with it, but it would be fun to tease Azula with for the next few days.

His room went dark as the lamp cut off and Lu Ten rolled over to curl up on his side. Flameo was tucked under his chin. It had taken a very long conversation about Lu Ten’s mother before Lu Ten was willing to accept his therapist’s comment that there was nothing wrong with sleeping with stuffed animals even as a twenty-seven-year-old man.

He was glad he had listened to them as he snuggled down deeper into his bed and slipped off into his first dreamless sleep since he returned home.

**Author's Note:**

> I tired to do research as best I could to not write this from a western perspective but like, it's really hard to find information on certain topics like general day to day life, so it's kind of a mixed bag here.
> 
> They are based in a modern day Republic City. I chose this as it made the most sense for why Aang, Katara, Sokka, Suki and Toph attend the same school.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed it.


End file.
